EFI UPDATE: Corporate criminals?

October 11, 2008

By KAREN VELIE and DANIEL BLACKBURN

In an attempt to explain the ongoing financial calamity created by Estate Financial Inc. (EFI), trustees recently held a meeting in which they frequently used the “F” word (fraud) and appeared to explain an apparent Ponzi scheme without dropping the “P” word.

EFI is one of at least four San Luis Obispo County hard money lenders that has participated in lending schemes and inappropriate management practices that may have already cost investors more than $500 million and created an environment that could cast a shadow over personal and business finances in this county for decades.

Hard money loans are based on the value of the underlying asset rather than borrowers’ credit rating. It works if the lender finances no more than 60 to 70 percent of the project and makes payments to contractors as the work progresses. EFI principals Karen Guth and her son Joshua Yaguda failed to follow through on these promises, which led to the Department of Real Estate stating that many of EFI’s practices were fraudulent, though they did not label the fraud as “Ponzi.”

In a Ponzi scheme, lenders pay unusually high returns while utilizing incoming investor money to cover expenses, rather than making income through the alleged business activity. EFI entirely funded numerous developments that were never constructed.

Ravenous for information, investors have traded facts mixed with a dash of scuttlebutt. EFI trustee Thomas Jeremiassen and EFI Mortgage Fund trustee Bradley Sharp attempted to set the record strait at an October 7 meeting in Santa Barbara attended by approximately 600 investors.

Wooed by the promise of whopping returns on property-secured investments, approximately 3,400 investors have entrusted their nest eggs with EFI. In July, EFI’s portfolio contained more than $317 million in monies owed to investors. Of that, only $21,000 remained unencumbered.

Rumors that investors would not receive proceeds from property sales for at least two years have spread like fire during a drought. However, trustees claim that will not always be the case.

“As we sell properties, we intend to distribute funds to an extent,” Jeremiassen said. Investors with recorded deeds who are actual co-owners (not simply creditors) stand a better chance of receiving funds shortly after a sale, he added.

Sources claim investors will be lucky to get pennies back on the dollar.

Trustees have now confirmed EFI principals Joshua Yaguda and Karen Guth co-mingled funds, paying from one investment to fund another. Although those actions closely parallel those of a Ponzi scheme, trustees — assigned with facilitating an “orderly liquidation” avoided use of the term.

Nevertheless, investors attending the meeting voiced their confidence in the trustees: “It was great meeting the trustees,” investor Sherri Bell said. “We have confidence in them.”

In March, UncoveredSLO reported Guth and Yaguda failed to disclose to some investors that they were partners in numerous EFI-funded construction projects. Trustees confirmed that Guth and Yaguda invested approximately $100 million into projects in which they had an interest.

“It’s like the guy that takes one gumball and then ends up raiding the whole machine,” said San Dimas developer Ron Cooper.

Additionally, the trustees confirmed that EFI misallocated approximately 27 percent of fund monies.

Guth and Yaguda also used investor monies slated for construction to bankroll the pairs numerous unrelated business holdings. Sources have told CalCoastNews that individuals renting property owned by EFI were told to make their rental checks out in Guth’s name.

“Those rents should have gone to us,” said one investor. “The rental checks were not disbursed to investors and the taxes were not paid.”

A pair of trustees – retained by the failed lender – want nearly a quarter-million dollars for a month and a half of work. Judge Riblet rejected the pair’s appointment in July sighting they had been tainted by Guth. Investors outraged at the charges were pleased to hear, in order to shave expenses, Jeremiassen and Sharp plan to move their audit from EFI’s offices in Paso Robles to their offices in Los Angeles within the next few weeks.

EFI’s lending practices will leave countless casualties. Particularly hard hit will be thousands of Central Coast seniors, many of whom of do not have the ability to rebound from the imploding financial ruin.

“We are there to pick up the pieces and put the puzzle together,” Jeremiassen added. We intend to put portions of the presentation on-line for the approximately 2,800 investors who were unable to attend.

2 Comments

I have just been informed by John Tooley, Senior D.A. Investigator, that
Karen Guth and Joshua Yaguda were handcuffed and arrested at their homes,
today.

Both Guth and Yaguda have been taken into custody by a joint task
force comprised of the San Luis Obispo District Attorney Office, Department of
Corporations, Department of Real Estate and the FBI. The case will be
prosecuted locally. A five million dollar bail has being set for each of
them. Guth and Yaguda's Passports have been confiscated. There are 26
felony counts charged against Guth and Yaguda. For at least 3 days, both
are to remain in police custody, at the San Luis Obispo County Jail. A
white collar crime enhancement has also been charged, which supports the
filing of Lis Pendens against their personal properties, cars and all
assets. A source of bail motion has been filed that will stop them from
posting bail until a hearing is held, and the Court determines the bail
money did not come from ill-gotten gains.

I want to take this time to thank the District Attorney Office for their
efforts in filing the case. I openly support the District Attorney's
office. They are doing such a superior job, even though it has been a
lengthy investigation, devoting many many man hours, in this ongoing
investigation. Their job will not stop, until they can help bring justice
to us all.

Please be patient. With time, the positive end result we all are seeking,
will come forthright.

By: calvertworthington on 10/12/08
State 'regulating' agencies (Dept. of Real Estate, Corp., DOJ) have been cut in staff drastically over the years with little or no public notice. In working with DRE (Dept of Real Estate) on similar matters I learned years ago that there was a skeleton crew in Fresno, and that folks in the real estate 'business' were well aware that. Even IF a red flag is raised, the 'system' has been pared down by too many years of the laissez-faire politicians and their governance.
By: hotdog on 10/12/08
Apparently one poster condones crime and another is way off topic with political rantings.
We all pay taxes to support services to the public, the most important of which is security. The anarchist poster a few hits below would scream bloody murder if not allowed access to our legal system if he needed protection from criminals.
However, he will be thrilled to know almost all the mechanisms set up to reduce this sort of fraud failed miserably, thereby saving this sap some of his 'hard earned' tax money to be better spent harassing the homeless and other enemies of the state.
State agencies and the local DA, charged with regulating loan brokers and prosecuting them in cases of predatory practices have been sitting on their hands doing almost nothing for the last year or so that this situation has been known to them. Much tax money saved, bravo! Let the free market self regulate for the greater good!
What folly…
By: George on 10/12/08
NSZ are you trying to make a point? or a pointless derail. see second guideline on my bio
By: Joe on 10/11/08
You were sold an incredible return on an investment… including plenty of fine print.

So what was it? Did this woman have amazing t!ts and kisses that taste like peaches?

Seriously, I feel as bad for you as I do for the people who blow their welfare checks at the casinos every month.

Only difference is, this was your earned money… and if you earned it, you would allegedly be better educated than the casino patrons.

So now you are wasting 'my' money by having the FBI involved.

You also screwed the working (non mexican) people of the area by helping to inflate housing prices with this ponzi scheme.

You should be held as accountable as the lenders for enabling them.

Que the choir;
If it sounds too good to be true…_________!
By: Jim on 10/11/08
I am an "investor" with E.F. and like so many others… am amazed that this woman and her son… have ruined the lives of so many people that trusted them…
The words "greedy… grasping… sociopathic" best describe my feelings about her actions…